This morning we lost without a doubt the biggest, bravest, and brashest personality in the political prisoner world. It is with great sadness that we write with the news of Herman Wallace's passing.

This morning we lost without a doubt the
biggest, bravest, and brashest personality in the political prisoner
world. It is with great sadness that we write with the news of Herman
Wallace's passing.

Herman never did anything half way. He
embraced his many quests and adventures in life with a tenacious
gusto and fearless determination that will absolutely never be rivaled.
He was exceptionally loyal and loving to those he considered friends, and
always went out of his way to stand up for those causes and
individuals in need of a strong voice or fierce advocate, no matter the
consequences.

Anyone lucky enough to have spent any time with
Herman knows that his indomitable spirit will live on through his work and the
example he left behind. May each of us aspire to be as dedicated to
something as Herman was to life, and to justice.

Below is a short obituary/press statement for
those who didn't know him well in case you wish to circulate
something. Tributes from those who were closest to Herman and more information
on how to help preserve his legacy by keeping his struggle alive will soon
follow. ------------------

On October 4th, 2013, Herman Wallace, an
icon of the modern prison reform movement and an innocent man, died a free
man after spending an unimaginable 41 years in solitary confinement.

Herman spent the last four decades of his life
fighting against all that is unjust in the criminal justice system, making
international the inhuman plight that is long term solitary confinement, and
struggling to prove that he was an innocent man. Just 3 daysbefore his passing, he succeeded, his conviction was
overturned, and he was released to
spend his final hours surrounded by loved ones. Despite his brief moments
of freedom, his case will now forever serve as a tragic example that
justice delayed is justice denied.

Herman Wallace's early life in New Orleans during
the heyday of an unforgiving and unjust Jim Crow south often found him on the
wrong side of the law and eventually he was sent to the Louisiana State
Penitentiary at Angola for armed robbery. While there, he was introduced to the Black
Panther's powerful message of self determination and collective community
action and quickly became one of its most persuasive and ardent practitioners.

Not long after he began to organize hunger and work
strikes to protest the continued segregation, endemic corruption, and horrific
abuse rampant at the prison, he and his fellow panther
comrades Albert Woodfox and Robert King were charged with
murders they did not commit and thrown in solitary. Robert was
released in 2001 after 29 years in solitary but Herman remained
there for an unprecedented 41 years, and Albert is still in a 6x9 solitary
cell.

Herman's criminal case ended with his passing, but
his legacy will live on through a civil lawsuit he filed jointly with Robert
and Albert that seeks to define and abolish long term solitary
confinement as cruel and unusual punishment, and through his comrade Albert Woodfox's still active and
promising bid for freedom from the wrongful conviction they both shared.

Herman was only 9 days shy of 72 years old.

Services will be held in New Orleans. The date and
location will be forthcoming.